A California-based service developed by students offers peer-to-peer delivery courtesy of a mobile app.
From the comfort of his room at University of California, Davis, KC Cui glances at his iPhone, abuzz with the latest notification — somewhere in Davis, a student is hungry. And it’s Cui’s job to deliver.
Along with being a student and a delivery provider, Cui is the co-founder and marketing chief of Chop Chop-Delivery, a new food delivery platform operating on a mobile peer-to-peer system that echoes the method of the popular transportation service Uber.
Though the concept is still young, Chop Chop can already be found at University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, Davis; and The Ohio State University. Its fourth stop: Ohio University.
Designed by KC Tech, based out of Northern California, Chop Chop operates via a peer-to-peer system, giving students the chance to be both recipients and delivery providers, who pocket the full delivery fee plus tips, without a commission fee.
“We always know that there are people who eat cheeseburgers at In-N-Out or burritos at Chipotle, so I was thinking, ‘Is it possible to have a system where we could connect the hungry ones with the delivery providers?’ ” Cui said. “We thought about it, and we realized the Uber method is really smart.”
Chop Chop launched the app in October, incorporating features that allow users to coordinate a meeting place with Google Maps, and make transactions using Braintree, a mobile payment system formerly used by Uber and Airbnb.
Food delivery services aren’t exactly a novel concept on American college campuses — nor are they always accepted by administrators. Chop Chop, however, has already proved successful on the UC Davis campus. After the school-run delivery service had been dropped, many students favored the app.
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Aaron Hoffman, a senior studying finance, offers a similar service through Campus Delivery, formerly known as OU Delivery, a student-run company that also operates at Kent State University and the University of Delaware. Campus Delivery has not yet opted for the peer-to-peer system, with Hoffman citing that student delivery providers are generally skeptical to use their own money to buy products.
“There's a lot of contingencies though that come along with (a peer-to-peer system),” Hoffman said. “More power to them if they figured out a system, but if a delivery company wants to thrive in a college market, they can't charge a huge delivery fee.”
Cui, however, envisions a future in which services such as Campus Delivery can maintain its autonomy, while using Chop Chop as its main platform.
“I really respect that they have worked on this delivery service for a long time,” Cui said. “People might think we’re competitors, but ... OU Delivery can absolutely use our system. Everybody can sign up for delivery when they go to the settings ... and everybody can deliver.”
Will Adelsperger, a sophomore studying nursing, serves as the OU campus representative for Chop Chop, and shares Cui’s hope that a future collaboration with Campus Delivery is possible.
“I believe we can work together and benefit from each other greatly,” Adelsperger said in an email. “Chop Chop definitely has the potential to be something special.”
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